Sarah Essen
Sarah Essen is a major supporting character in the first season of Gotham. Based on the DC Comics character of the same name, she is the captain of the Gotham City Police Department. While initially it seems that Essen is yet another cog in the system of corruption that has plagued the law in Gotham for so long, the resolve and determination of Detective Jim Gordon inspires her to take action and help him to clean up the city and the department. She is portrayed by Zabryna Guevara. History Throughout Season 1, Essen captains the GCPD's homicide unit. While she does her utmost to uphold justice, the corruption in Gotham's political infrastructure runs so deep that she dares not take action against the likes of Carmine Falcone or anyone in his pocket, as doing so would put her family at risk. Over the course of the series, the heroic actions of Jim Gordon inspire Essen to be a better cop and stand up to the criminals that have long manipulated the law to their own ends. She begins taking more active roles in investigations, mainly Gordon's, and even goes as far as arresting dirty detective Arnold Flass inside the GCPD building in full view of all their colleagues. In Season 2, Essen supports Gordon in the wake of the gang war between Carmine Falcone and Salvatore Maroni. Commissioner Gillian Loeb demotes Gordon to a lowly traffic cop after Gordon threatened to bring him down, then later fires him after he laid a hand on a fellow officer, demanding Essen to take his badge and gun. Afterwards, Gordon is forced to take drastic, illicit action in order to get reinstated, going to the Penguin for help. He collects a debt on Penguin's behalf, and in return, Penguin forces Loeb to retire as police commissioner. Following this, Essen is promoted to commissioner of the GCPD. Death Sarah Essen's time as commissioner is all too brief. In the episode "Knock, Knock" a group of Arkham Asylum escapees calling themselves the Maniax go on a homicidal rampage across Gotham. They are even so bold as to attack the GCPD itself, with Barbara Kean distracting Gordon and luring him away while Jerome Valeska and the others infiltrate the building disguised as uniformed officers. Several cops are gunned down in the attack and Essen is tied to a chair and taunted by Jerome. Essen swears that soon Jerome will be dead and that the world will forget about him, but Jerome retorts that he will leave a mark on Gotham. After Essen manages to headbutt him, Jerome responds by mortally wounding her. This isn't shown on-screen but Jerome likely would have either shot Essen or stabbed her. Not long after, Gordon returns to find Essen bleeding to death. With her last breath, Essen tells Gordon "It's a new day" before dying in his arms. Trivia * Sarah Essen was originally created by comic writer Frank Miller and made her first appearance in Batman #405. In the comics, Essen was a police detective and also a love interest for Jim Gordon. Essen and Gordon would later be married, though they share no romantic relationship in Gotham. * Sarah's death in the series is a nod to the death of her comic counterpart. In the series, Essen was killed by Jerome Valeska, a character inspired by classic Batman villain, The Joker. The Joker was also responsible for murdering Sarah in the comics. Category:TV Characters Category:TV Deaths Category:Gotham Category:DC Characters Category:Batman Characters Category:Humans Category:Heroes Category:Tragic Deaths Category:Murder Victims Category:Supporting Characters Category:Bled to Death